PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his condolences to the people of Japan following the death of the country’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe passed away on Saturday following a shooting while he was on the campaign trail in the country.
Abe was Japan’s longest serving prime minister until he left the job in 2020 due to health reasons.
“On behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, I offer my sincere condolences to Mr Abe’s family, friends and colleagues, as well as the Government and people of Japan as a close and special partner to our nation,” said Ramaphosa.
“The violence that claimed Prime Minister Abe’s life is a call on all of us to work for non-violence, peace and tolerance in all parts of the globe,” President Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said that during his term as South Africa’s deputy president, he had “been privileged to have a close association with Prime Minister Abe.”
“I recall my warm and productive interactions with Prime Minister Abe during my August 2015 visit to Japan as where we made significant progress in strengthening our bilateral relations, especially in the economic sphere, as well as South Africa’s cooperation with Japan in addressing issues on the global agenda.
“I reflect similarly on my participation as President of the Republic in the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama in August 2019. Prime Minister Abe convened this platform under the theme “Advancing Africa’s development through Technology, Innovation and People”, which sought to further deepen trade and investment, capacity and skills development, networking and people’s exchange between African nations and Japan,” he said.
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